


Behind Hazel Eyes

by Yiffandquiff (paradisobound)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, Gore, ITS DARK, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Sad with a Happy Ending, Serial Killers, but not too dark?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-08 00:42:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21226958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paradisobound/pseuds/Yiffandquiff
Summary: Dan’s known Lucas since college and he’s never been so convinced that two people are meant to be together. He loves Lucas more than anything. But when news report of a serial killer striking around the town, Dan begins to notice signs in Lucas that leave him nervous. With the help of his newfound friend Phil, Dan pieces together the parts of Lucas that he somehow missed before anyone else loses their lives--and before Dan loses his own.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my version of Spookyweek where I’m posting a new installment of this fic every day until Halloween! First part is today, second is tomorrow, and third part is Halloween! This is a dark fic, and it takes some dark turns so **please heed all warnings**! I had a lot of fun writing this and it was something totally out of my comfort zone but I think I really executed it well. Hope you all enjoy if this is what you’re into!

_“The News is sad to report tonight that the infamous Western Valley Serial Killer has appeared to strike again at an apartment complex in downtown Rockwell. 22 year old Ashton Johnson has been identified as the next victim in this horrific string of violence. We have no other details at this time. The police are still asking the public to help identify the killer by calling in any leads you may have. A sketch of the killer has been released the police are asking for anyone to come forward if you think you know who they are…” _

The sound of the news droned on in the background as Dan laid in bed, his body covered by the soft throw. It was a warmer early spring night, and while his apartment was cooled by an air conditioner, the air still held enough moisture to make his skin sticky and damp. If it wasn’t for his knack of only being able to fall asleep with a blanket on, he’d be well better off. 

He turns onto his side and reaches for the TV remote just in time to hear the front door open and shut with the distinctive creak that Dan has been asking his landlord to fix since he moved in. Footsteps become louder and louder and Dan looks up just in time to see his boyfriend stood in the doorway and his lips curl up in a smile. 

“You’re still awake?” 

Dan scoffs at Lucas and turns onto his back, reaching over and tugging at the chord of the bedside light and finding the switch to turn it on. The dull yellow light floods the room and Dan sees the way Lucas’s brown hair falls a bit flat on top, much different to how he styled it before he left to go out that night. 

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Dan asks, maneuvering himself so he’s not sitting up, the throw coiled on his lap. 

“Hm?” Lucas hums, walking over to the bed and sitting down. He places his hand on Dan’s arm and rubs up and down. “Well, it’s well after midnight and you have to work in the morning.” 

“I can still get up at eight.” Dan says. “You seem to forget that I used to be up until 4 in the morning pacing the floors of my dorm and I’d still make it to class at eight thirty.” 

“Barely.” Lucas says. He leans over and presses a soft and gentle kiss to Dan’s cheek. “I need to go and shower but try and fall asleep before I’m out?” 

Dan finds himself nodding and Lucas leans down and kisses his forehead. As he backs up off from the bed and stands up, he turns around and Dan sees the way he stops and watches the TV for a moment. 

_“Police are now saying this is the work of the Western Valley Serial Killer. The victim tonight had the same carved inscription on the inside of their thigh as the other three young males who met the same fate. Police are continuing to ask the public…” _

“I can’t believe they haven’t caught him yet.” 

Dan looks up at Lucas. Lucas turns to him and pushes his brown leather jacket off from his arms, leaving just a white teeshirt underneath. “Who? That guy?” 

Lucas nods. “Sick fucking dude.” 

Dan nods and quickly reaches over and grabs the remote, turning off the TV. He didn’t like hearing about it and he didn’t feel like talking about it. The idea of someone being out there doing these heinous crimes made Dan feel a bit paranoid about his own safety. 

Lucas undresses the rest of the way and leaves his clothes in a pile at the end of their bed as he walks to their ensuite bathroom and closes the door behind him. Dan lays down in bed, pulling the soft throw over his body once more. 

When he reaches over and shuts the light off, the sound of the shower running in the bathroom keeps him a bit calmer. According to the news reports, the killer has been striking at apartment buildings and manipulating his way into young men’s apartments, only to sexually assault them and then kill them before they can get away. Every time the news reports that another victim was found, Dan feels a bit more sick inside. But he has Lucas to protect him. He knows that. But he still doesn’t fall asleep until long in the night, after Lucas has already climbed into bed and wrapped his body around his own. 

When he wakes up in the morning, his eyes have telltale dark circles underneath and he feels way too drowsy to drive. But he gets in his car and heads off to the library anyway to begin his shift. 

He’s greeted by Mary, the kind older woman who shouldn’t still be working at the library but Dan knows that she means well. It’s not her fault that sometimes she stamps the wrong part of their forms for library loans or she writes the date as something way off. He knows that she loves the library more than her own life and that’s okay with him to work with her. 

“We have a new applicant for the summer position.” Mary tells him, her voice a bit shaky as she moves a stack of books delicately from one end of the counter to the other. “He seems well and like he’d be a good fit while I’m out.” 

Dan has already been through probably thirty applications for Mary’s position while she’s out of work to visit her family in Florida for three months. But none of the applications were anything spectacular. Dan would read one after another and see the same candidate in each one: a young teenager who just wants a summer job to have a reason to make money. And although Dan isn’t opposed to actually hiring someone like that―he’d been a teenager once as well―he would still rather work with someone who is serious about the position. 

“What is their name?” He asks, already moving to the computer to look at the email for the library. 

“Philip, I believe.” She says. She picks up the stack of books she had just moved and sets them down on a cart on the other side of the counter. “I’m going to go and put these away now.” 

Dan nods in her direction and pulls up the email with the application. He looks it over and is immediately stricken at the fact the fact that this guy was 28 and applying for this position. Dan was 25 himself and he would much rather work with someone who was 28 than someone who was 16. As he read the application, he found that Phil, as his application asked him to be called, actually had a library science certification and was a recent employee for a public library downstate. The fact that the guy had experience and was also rightfully certified for the position was extremely intriguing to Dan and he quickly took note of his number by writing it on a sticky note. 

He minimized the application and walked down the counter to the phone that sat on the end. He picked up the receiver and dialed Phil’s number. It rang a few times and just as Dan thought someone was going to answer, the line cut off and Phil’s voicemail began. When it beeped, Dan let out a sigh and then began his message. 

“Hello, this is Daniel Howell calling from Western Valley Public Library. I have looked at your application and I would love for you to come in for an interview if possible. You can call me back at 347-222-9736. Thank you.” 

Dan puts the receiver down and sucks in a breath. He really hopes that Phil calls them back because even though he wouldn’t mind hiring 17 year old Heather, he’d much rather hire Phil who is actually qualified. 

Dan spends the rest of his morning looking through the list of loans that other libraries have requested from their collection and he spends most of his time taking note of each title and then finding it on their shelves, most containing a thin layer of dust. He’s busy dusting them off and sticking a label in the inside of what school or library it’s going to when the phone rings beside him and he quickly stands up from his stool and rushes over. 

“Western Valley Public Library, how may I help you?” 

“Hi. This is Phil. You called earlier about an interview but I was busy and didn’t make your call. Is it okay to still schedule an interview?” 

Dan feels his lips curl into a smile and he quickly rushes over and grabs a pad of sticky notes and a pen before he settles down, resting his elbows on the counter. 

“When can you come in?” 

They decide on an interview the end of this week and Dan finds it quite strange that he already cannot wait to conduct it. He doesn’t know if he’s excited because he gets to do it himself this time or that he’s just eager to meet someone new after just working with Mary these last three years with no one else around. 

When Dan was first hired here, it was by total accident. He was fresh out of college with nothing more than a philosophy degree and he felt lost. He didn’t know what to do or where to go but Lucas helped him. Lucas knew his great-aunt worked for the public library system and he managed to get Dan a job here a the library. There had been many other workers in the library years prior but budget cuts left them with just enough money to pay both Mary and himself. It was a miracle that this library is even open. Dan hardly sees anyone ever actually come here. 

By lunch time, the library is getting ready to close at two today and he’s gearing up to take his lunch to the meeting room and eat when he realizes he didn’t even have it with him. He must have never grabbed it from the fridge at home before he left. 

He’ll beat himself up for it later, but right now, he’s stood at the counter, looking at the empty library as Mary stands around and dusts off shelves, not even bothered. He’s pretty sure she didn’t even hear him when he told her Phil was coming in for an interview this week. 

Dan takes a seat on the stool and scribbles a bit on his sticky notes when the door to the library opens and he looks up to see that all too familiar brown leather jacket. His lips pull up in a big smile and he walks around the counter to meet Lucas half-way. 

“What are you doing here?” Dan asks. “Shouldn’t you be at college?” 

“You forgot your lunch so I thought I’d bring it to you here before I went to my seminar.” Lucas leans forwards and presses his lips lightly against Dan’s. “I would never get through my criminal offenses seminar knowing I never brought my hubby his food.” 

Dan feels his cheeks blush as he looks between them at the brown paper bag in Lucas’s hand that contains his half-assed made PB and J sandwich and a Tupperware container of fruit. It’s an embarrassing meal, but it’s all he has time to make and really, it’s all he can afford to make being the only one to make money between him and Lucas. 

But Lucas was studying to pass the Bar exam in just six months time and Dan didn’t want to impose on that. Not when Lucas has been studying for this moment for as long as Dan has known him. 

“You didn’t have to do this.” 

“But I wanted to.” Lucas pressed, his arm coming up and snaking it’s way around Dan’s waist. “I have to get going if I want to get a parking spot and make it to seminar in time but I’ll see you at home later. Love you.” 

“Love you too.” 

They kiss one last time as Dan takes hold of his paper bag lunch from Lucas and then waves goodbye as he walks back out the door. 

“Was that Frances, Dan?” Mary called from the counter as she set her cleaning supplies down. 

“His name is Lucas, Mary. Remember?” He asks with a laugh. 

Mary waves it off and Dan snickers a bit more as he tells her he’s going to take his lunch and he retreats to the meeting room. 

Dan gets home from the library at around three and he finds himself trying to tidy up some of the mess that Lucas had left behind that morning. There were random files and notes thrown all over their coffee table and Dan even found some torn out textbook pages under the couch. He puts them all into a neat little pile and puts them off to the side just in time to sit down and rest his feet. 

He grabs the remote for their TV in the living room and turns it on to see that the channel was on the news station. Dan rolled his eyes, because he didn’t feel like watching the news but the story caught his eye. 

The sketch of the Western Valley Serial Killer was on his screen and he was staring at it. Underneath the sketch was a description of them and Dan reads off the bullet points in his head. 

  * _6 Foot tall_
  * _Roughly 200 pounds _
  * _Dark brown hair and dark eyes _
  * _Slight stubble around chin _
  * _Athletic build _

Dan reaches for the remote and switches the channel as fast he can, trying to get the image out of his head of this guy walking around and preying on innocent people. His stomach tightens into a knot and he finds it hard to not think about anything but that as he eventually finds an episode of Fixer Upper to try and clear his thoughts. 

He watches a few episodes of Chip and Joanna before he hears the telltale signs of keys in the front door and the door pushes open to reveal Lucas on the other side. He has a plastic bag full of what looks like Chinese food and Dan’s stomach gives a hungry growl. 

“Hope you don’t mind that I picked up Chinese for dinner.” Lucas says, setting the bag on their kitchen counter. 

Dan stands up from the couch and walks over to him, leaning his hands onto the counter. “What did you get me?” 

“Sesame Chicken with Lo Mein.” Lucas says, pulling it out the bag and setting the foil container onto the counter. 

“You know me so well.” Dan comments with a laugh as he leans forward and kisses his cheek. Lucas stiffens for a second, and Dan pulled back a bit quicker than he wanted to. He tried to ignore it, but he couldn’t help but see the way Lucas’s demeanor shifted at the kiss. 

But he didn’t say anything about it. And neither did Lucas. 

“You’ve only ever ordered the same thing since freshman year.” Lucas says, pulling out his food next and crumbling the bag, throwing it into the garbage can. 

Dan nods curtly and forces a smile as he grabs the hot container and takes it to their table where he sits down with a plastic fork and opens up the top, digging into it. 

They eat mostly in silence but that’s more common than Dan would like to admit. Normally its because they’re both so busy eating, they just forget to speak. But other times it’s just because they have nothing to say to the other. Dan sadly feels like it’s the latter tonight. 

When they’re done, Dan helps Lucas pick up everything and then he goes to the living room and pulls out his laptop to scroll social media while Lucas grabs at the pile that Dan had picked up and begins to paw through it again. 

“How was your day?” Dan asks. 

“Stressful.” Lucas says without any hesitation. “I’m so ready to take this fucking exam and be done with it. At this point, I don’t even feel like I can pass it.” 

“You’ll do fine.” Dan says, turning himself to face Lucas. “You’re smart and more than capable of passing the exam.” 

Lucas lets out a breath. “Sometimes I wonder why I’m even doing this.” 

“You want to be a lawyer.” Dan says. “You told me that it’s something you’ve dreamed of doing since you knew what a lawyer was. Don’t give up on that dream just because times are getting rough.” 

Lucas sighs and runs his hands through his hair, brushing it back onto his head before it falls back to it’s normal quiff-like position. “I’m sorry if I’m being cynical.” He says. “I just never anticipated everything to be this difficult.” 

“But you got this.” Dan says, putting his laptop down onto the coffee table and moving closer to Lucas. “You’ve got it in you to pass this exam and you’re going to make the best damn defense attorney that has ever lived.” 

Lucas turns his head and his lips are curled up into a slight smirk. “You’re the most amazing person.” He says, his hand coming out and resting on Dan’s jaw. “I’ll never understand how I got so lucky.” 

“I can say the same for myself.” 

Lucas leans forward and kisses Dan, his lips drawing the breath from Dan’s lungs. Dan whimpers and reaches out, pressing his hand against Lucas’s bicep to steady himself as Lucas deepens the kiss. 

They take it to the bedroom and Dan is soon on his back with Lucas between his legs and he’ll never get over how amazing sex is with Lucas. How caring and gentle he is but also how rough he is when he wants to be. His fingertips leave bruises on Dan’s hips but the slight tingle left in their aftermath only makes Dan enjoy them more. 

When Lucas stands up to use the restroom, Dan notices red marks on his back and while he didn’t think he’d dug his nails into Lucas’s back, he still finds himself looking at the tops of his fingers for any burrs on them. 

Lucas climbs back into bed beside Dan a few moments later but Dan is far too tired to comment on the scratches so he doesn’t. He just closes his eyes and falls asleep for a short time before waking up at just before midnight and realizing he’s fucked his sleep schedule once again. 

Dan can’t fall back asleep and it burdens him as he gets up at just half past midnight and walks out of their bedroom, Lucas still asleep on the bed. He makes his way into the kitchen and opens their fridge thinking that maybe a midnight snack might make him feel a bit better. 

When nothing seems to grab his attention, he moves to their freezer and opens it up to search inside. He finds a half-empty pint of Ben and Jerry’s and pulls it out, opening the lid to make sure it wasn’t frost bit. He sets the lid off to the side on the counter and opens their silverware drawer and pulls out a spoon. 

He meanders his way back into the living room and plops down onto the couch again, reaching out to grab at the remote for the TV and turn it on. He presses the power button and just as the TV comes to life, the same local news station is highlighting the screen and Dan feels his heart race. 

“Western Valley Police will be holding a press conference this morning at 9am regarding the Western Valley Serial Killer. Police say that they have some new information that they are withholding from releasing until the press conference tomorrow. Police are still encouraging anyone to come forward with any…” 

“You’re still watching this shit?” 

Dan jumps, his shoulders rising up as he gasps and drops his unused spoon onto the floor by his feet. He quickly turns his head and sees Lucas standing behind him, a pair of tight boxer briefs covering his hips and his arms folded over his chest. His hair was slightly mussed up and Dan felt it hard to not feel a bit jolted at seeing him standing there. 

“It was just what was on when I turned the TV on.” Dan mumbles, reaching for the remote again. 

“It’s such a sad, pathetic thing.” Lucas comments, moving around the side of the couch and sitting down beside Dan. “Like what heartless fucking monster would do that?” 

Dan shrugs. “A pretty bad one.” 

Lucas scoffs. “Turn the channel, babe.” He says, his voice harsh. “I don’t want to watch this shit right now.” 

Dan turns the channel as fast as he can and they eventually end up on Adult Swim, watching some episode of Rick and Morty. His pint of Ben and Jerry’s remains long forgotten, melted on the coffee table next to the soiled spoon. Sometime about an hour later, he finds himself curled onto Lucas’s bare chest, his eyes falling closed. 

When he wakes up to Lucas leaving before the sun even comes up, he doesn’t question it. He just closes his eyes, and falls asleep again on the couch, curled up in a blanket that he didn’t put on himself. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warnings: Abusive behavior by a partner **

“How did you find out about our library?”

It’s a few days later and Dan is sat across from Phil, a set of hand-written questions on the notepad in front of him. He feels like he should have been more professional about this but he didn’t have a lot of time to prepare. Lucas had called him just as soon as he left the apartment to tell Dan he left his important Law textbook in their bedroom. So Dan turned around and went back to grab it before driving to Lucas’s campus and making his way back to the library.

By the time he got there, he was late to opening the doors of the library―not like anyone was there to notice, it was Mary’s day off. And there was never anyone busting down the doors to get in. Most of the time, their only visitors were people who came in for a second to pick up a loaned book and then they’d leave without looking at anything.

Nevertheless, Dan was still short on time and now here he is, sitting in front of Phil, with scribbled notes on his piece of paper.

“Well,” Phil says, his voice a bit higher in pitch than Dan’s, which Dan had to admit was catching him a bit off guard. “I saw your ad on Facebook asking for summer help and I thought I would check this place out.”

Dan nods. “Be honest,” he says with a laugh. “Is this what you expected?”

Dan knows that the answer is going to be no. The library is dust-covered, cobwebs in the upper corners that neither Dan nor Mary are bothered to get. The books haven’t been touched in months. Their computer is even rendered so old that it can’t be updated. They don’t even get funded by the city much anymore because the library is so underused. The only reason―or so Dan’s heard―that the library is even still open is because of the city’s ordinance that there needs to be at least one public library within the city’s limits and this is the only one.

Phil shakes his head. “Not really. But it’s quiet. And I respect that anyway.”

“We don’t get many people who come around here,” Dan says. “I don’t know why but I feel like it has something to do with the fact that most people can just find their resources online and not in a library.”

“Have you ever thought about holding some Summer events?” Phil asks. “I mean, I apologize if I’m stepping out of line or if I seem ignorant because I don’t know much about the library. But maybe hosting events for children or teenagers to go to will show people how much a library actually means?”

Dan cocks his head and looks at Phil, finding their eyes meet in the middle as Phil gives him a puzzling look―almost as if he’s not sure if what he said was okay. “That’s actually a genius idea,” Dan says. “But I’m not sure if we can find the funding. We’ll have to look.”

“Well, if I’m given the position,” Phil begins. “I can work on organizing events? I feel like I’d do quite well at that.”

“That would be amazing!” Dan says, immediately forgetting anything else about the interview and the questions he was supposed to be asking. “I’m not even bluffing, I just think that could really help us out. I know Mary would really like that we did that while she was gone.”

Phil smiles at Dan and as Dan catches it out of the corner of his eye as he turns his head off to the side to set the notepad down, he feels his breath catch in his throat. There was something kind of amazing about Phil’s smile. He couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was…but it caught Dan off guard for a moment and he found himself wanting Phil to smile again just so he could see it.

“So…”

Dan snapped out of his haze and immediately sat up straight. “Oh! I actually believe you’ll be perfect for here.”

“Great!” Phil says, his voice genuinely sounding happier than it had when he arrived here.

“If you want to hang around a bit, I can work on your paperwork and honestly, we can set up your times to come in? I know you’re supposed to be a Summer position but I’m honestly okay with you starting earlier and helping me plan some events? I really did love those ideas.”

Phil nodded and they both stood up from their chairs in the conference room. Dan motioned for Phil to follow him out into the library and just as they walked past the doorway, into the main area, Dan stopped dead in his tracks to see someone standing in front of the counter, his fingers tapping against it.

“Lucas?” Dan asked, his voice an upward inflection as he looked at Lucas standing there. “What are you doing here?”

“I couldn’t stay on campus any longer so I thought I’d come and visit my favorite guy.”

Lucas’s smile was wide as he walked around the side of the counter and cut through the opening to Dan. He opened his arms wide and wrapped them tightly around Dan’s waist, pulling him in close.

“Did something happen on campus?” Dan asks.

Lucas pulls back and presses a kiss to Dan’s cheek…then another one…and another one…and finally, he kisses Dan’s lips, slotting them together with practiced ease. “Just was stressed and needed to take a break.”

“I’m sorry,” Dan says, genuinely feeling that way. He does feel bad whenever Lucas says he’s stressed. He doesn’t know how it feels to be going through all that he does with studying Law but he has a feeling that it’s much more than he should be put through. But it’ll be worth it in the end when he gets to watch Lucas’s face as he gets word that he passed his Bar Exam.

“Thought I’d come here and destress a bit,” Lucas whispers. “But I see you’re not alone.”

Dan blushes. “I’m about to work with a new employee.”

“Hm…too bad.” Lucas comments, biting down his neck a bit. “Was looking forward to fucking you on the counter.”

“Lucas!”

Lucas snickers and pulls away. “I should leave you alone so I’ll see you at home. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Dan sees Lucas out and then when he comes back, he immediately feels embarrassed. Phil is still stood behind the counter, trying to look around and not make it obvious that he was feeling awkward about the entire situation.

“I’m so sorry.” Dan says. “My boyfriend likes to come into the library every once in a while to see me.”

Phil just waves it off. “No bother.”

Dan forces a smile and walks behind the counter again, bending down to pull out an old dusty binder and standing back up to pass it to Phil. “Here is the code of conduct if you want to read it.”

Phil takes the binder with a huff at how heavy it was and sets it off to the side as Dan snickers to himself.

***

When Dan gets home, Lucas isn’t there and while Dan normally doesn’t think anything of that, it does kind of bother him a bit that Lucas wasn’t back. As he walks into the living room, he notices that the pile of papers that he had adjusted yesterday were back to being a scattered mess.

His need to straighten up the papers precedes anything else so he drops his car keys into the bowl next to the door and walks over to fix them. He sits down on the couch and moves to the edge, grabbing the piles of papers and adjusting them to be straight again. Dan nearly has them all in a perfect pile again when he notices a clipping from their local newspaper.

He takes it in his hand and looks it over. He doesn’t even remember the last time he’s even touched a newspaper because aren’t they pretty much obsolete? He pulls the paper through his fingers and sees quickly that it is an article on the serial killer. It’s a statement from the police begging for people to come forward with any information that they may have.

Dan feels his heart swell a bit in his chest and his stomach tighten. Why did Lucas have this? It felt so out of character for Lucas to have this clipping in his pile of law work. Unless he needed it for a class?

Dan looked it over again and then set it back down in the pile, choosing to ignore it. He honestly didn’t want anymore reminders that that person was running around and slaughtering people. He didn’t want to think about that as he sat alone in his apartment, waiting for Lucas to get back from wherever he has gone to.

Dan reaches out and grabs his laptop that he had left there from the night before. He opens up his screen and wakes up his computer, logging onto social media to see what was happening. He went onto Facebook to scroll through his feed since his mom still is eager to post there and nowhere else. He makes it through just two posts when a news story pops up on his feed and he feels ready to shut his computer.

“Police say that victim has DNA under fingernails from the killer. Could be the first new lead in weeks.”

Dan feels simultaneously relieved and also stressed at the same time. These news headlines were making him uncomfortable and he wished he would stop seeing them. However, this breakthrough is enough to tell Dan that maybe this nightmare would be over soon and everything could go back to normal in their town. He can’t help but notice how nothing seems normal anymore around here since the killing began.

In actuality, Dan wishes that Lucas would be done with college so they could move away from here and start fresh somewhere else. He really doesn’t like living here, but he only moved here because Lucas got accepted into their law school and he and Lucas wanted to live together.

He continues to scroll through his feed to see pictures of people from high school with their kids or overly expensive dogs that they got from breeders. He finds himself getting bored and he closes the screen of his laptop and reaches for the remote to turn the TV on. This time, as soon as the news begins to play, he presses the buttons for 176 and makes his way to HGTV instead, watching Chip and Joanna flip more houses. He honestly cannot wait until he and Lucas have their own house one day.

It’s a weird thought, Dan says to himself in his head. He’s still young, just 25. But he still feels like he’s too young to be an adult. He’s been out of college for four years now but he still feels like he should be enrolled in classes. Lucas is going on 26 now, and although they were apart in age, Lucas was still completely focused on his studies to pass the Bar exam. He’d been preparing for it for so long now, it was actually kind of crazy to think about.

They met in college at a frat party, as cheesy and cliche as that sounds. Dan laughs about it now, but at the time, seeing Lucas stood outside of the crowd with his red plastic cup in hand and his brown hair perfectly styled made Dan feel a certain way. And maybe the alcohol flowing through his veins helped a bit as well when Lucas took him to bed that night in some random bedroom in the frat house. It was the first and only one nightstand Dan had ever had, or so he thought at the time. But they slowly found their way back to each other over and over again, Lucas always wanting sex and Dan always being more than willing to give him it. How it led to a relationship still blows Dan’s mind a bit but God, he feels so lucky that it did. He feels so grateful that one night, after downing a whole large pizza during finals week, Lucas kissed him and asked him to be his boyfriend.

Dan has seen Lucas at his highs and at his lows. He’s seen Lucas cry because his grandmother passed away. He’s seen Lucas laugh so hard he’s cried over something he saw on TV. But he’s also seen Lucas get quiet, and not speak to anyone for weeks. He’s seen Lucas push him away. They’ve been on the verge of a break-up, ready to give up and move on. But that doesn’t happen because they love each other. They’ve been together for 6 years now since Dan was 19 and Lucas was 21. Dan can’t honestly see his life without him anymore. And yeah, they have no plans for a wedding or to buy a house until they’re financially stable, but that doesn’t mean Dan can’t dream about it.

Dan doesn’t even realize he just sighed out loud to his own thoughts until he hears himself. His cheeks flush and he directs his attention to the TV, pulling his knees up to his chest and sitting back on the couch, ready to have a night to himself.

Lucas comes back not that long after, his backpack slung on his shoulder and his sweatshirt a bit crumbled. Dan can’t help but feel like he looks really disheveled and not well put together.

“The rest of your day okay?” Dan asks.

Lucas looks at Dan and just shakes his head, not even speaking a word. He bypasses the couch and heads into their bedroom, shutting the door behind him. Dan jumps a bit at the aggressiveness of it but shakes it off. A few minutes later, he can hear the shower running so he lets the tension leave his body and he settled back into the couch again.

When Lucas comes out a bit later, he’s freshly showered and wearing a pair of old college sweatpants and an old gym shirt. He makes his way over the couch and falls down onto it beside Dan, reaching up and running his hands through his sopping wet hair.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Dan asks.

Lucas lets out a loud sigh. “I―I just don’t know anymore.”

“Don’t know about what?”

“This,” Lucas says. Dan’s heartbeat picks up speed. “Like, my professor today was speaking about some fucking law that I needed to know and I just…I’m suddenly having doubts if I’m even cut out to be a lawyer.”

Dan lets out a breath. “You’re going―“

“―yeah, yeah. I’m going to make the best Defense Attorney…I already heard you tell me that before.” Lucas snaps.

“I’m sorry,” Dan says, pulling his legs closer to his chest. “I just want you to know I’m here for you.”

Lucas turns his head and looks at him. “I know, baby. I know.” He reaches out and strokes Dan’s knee. “I didn’t mean to snap. I’m just really overwhelmed right now.”

“I know. It’s okay.”

Dan doesn’t say anything more but Lucas begins to open his mouth to speak when he catches sight of the papers on the coffee table. “Did you touch those?” Lucas asks, whipping his hand away from Dan’s knee.

Dan looked down at them and felt his breathing stutter. “They were a mess so I picked them up?”

Lucas groaned. “Don’t touch my shit, Dan!” His voice rose in anger. “I have important papers in there! You can’t be touching all of that and screwing them up.”

“I’m sorry!” Dan quickly apologized. “They were literally thrown all over the coffee table and I picked them up.”

Lucas leaned back on the couch before promptly standing up and grabbing the papers from the table, holding them in his arms. “Don’t touch these, Dan.” He snarls. “They’re not your business.”

He stomps off angrily to their bedroom and slams the door behind him. Dan remains on the couch, his eyes watering and his vision blurring. Lucas has never done that before, get mad at Dan for something like that and yell at him. He feels like a reprimanded child who got in trouble for touching his parents’ things. He lets a few tears fall and then the sobs come next. He doesn’t know why but his heart even breaks a bit too.

He’s still crying on their couch when Lucas finally comes back out a few minutes later. When he sees Dan, he immediately rushes over to him and wraps his arms around him, holding Dan tight as Dan cried into his chest. “I’m sorry, Dan. I didn’t mean to yell at you. You didn’t know how important those were to me. I’m sorry. Don’t cry. You know I don’t like it when you cry.”

Dan takes comfort in Lucas’s chest and he remains in that position for the rest of the evening until they go to bed for the night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ** This chapter has a very heavy scene of violence so please heed this warning **

“Did you have a rough night?”

Dan shakes his head at Phil’s gentle voice as he stamps the last book in his stack. They’re all books that have to be sent out to colleges or libraries across the state and Mary had left them for him to do this morning from the night before. He’s stamping the last date in the book and shutting the cover when he finally looks up.

“Why do you ask?” He asks, his voice a bit rough and scratchy.

He hadn’t slept at all the night before. After Lucas left him in the living room, he stayed there, unable to find the will to go into bed. Something felt off and unwelcoming in his apartment. Lucas felt cold, not like himself. When he turned to go back to the bedroom, his shirt rose up and Dan noticed bruises on his lower back.

He spent most of the night in tears because it was pretty obvious why Lucas was acting how he was. He was cheating on Dan. He’d found someone else to be with. It would explain the bruising and the scratches on his back. The disheveled clothing and ruffled hair just added to it. Everything was pointing to that and…

“You’re crying, Dan.”

Dan didn’t realize he was crying. He picked up his hand and wiped the tears from under his eyes and sniffled. He shrugged again, not meaning to seem distant to Phil but the truth was that he was afraid to speak his worries out loud. Because once he does, that makes them infinitely more real.

“Is something going on in your personal life?” Phil asks.

Dan sucks in a breath.

“I think Lucas is cheating on me.”

Phil, who was stood on the other side of the counter, suddenly moved fast around the other side to where Dan was. He pulled up the other office chair next to Dan and sat down. “Is this something you want to talk about?”

Dan shrugs. “I don’t know.” He answers because he really doesn’t know.

“Well, Dan…”

As if on cue, the door to the library opened with a strong push and Dan looked up as the bell rang to see Lucas walking inside. The rain was pouring down just outside the door and he looked drowned. His hair was soaked through and his clothing was sopping wet.

“Lucas?” Dan stands up and rushes past Phil outside of the counter. “Why are you all wet? What are you doing?”

“My car broke down!” Lucas rushed over to Dan. “I had to walk here in the pouring rain. I need your car.”

Dan furrowed his brows. “How did your car break down?”

Lucas had a brand new car, just less than a year old. Dan didn’t understand how it could have broken down. It never had any issues before but anything is possible he supposes.

“If I knew that answer, Dan, I would have fixed it!” Lucas snapped. “Give me your car keys.”

“How am I going to get home?” Dan asks. “I don’t have a ride home.”

“Well, I need to get to campus, Dan! You can worry about getting home once I finish my exams and we can still afford our fucking home!”

Dan recoiled at the words, feeling them like a punch in the gut. The noise of something getting knocked over made Dan jump and he turned around to see Phil standing up, the chair pushed behind him, hitting the back shelf of the counter and knocking a pencil holder over. Phil winces and quickly picks them up and exits the lobby of the library.

“Did you call someone to come and get your car?” Dan asks. “Or is it sat on the side of the road somewhere?”

Lucas rolled his eyes and pushed past Dan, walking towards the back of the library. “Where do you keep your keys? I’m not going to be late because of this bullshit. I have a seminar in 15 minutes.”

Dan brushes past Lucas to his backpack on the other side of the counter and he opens the front pocket and pulls out his car keys. He takes off the key fob and hands it to Lucas and keeps the apartment key on the original ring and shoves it into his pocket. Lucas snatches the car key away from him and doesn’t even say anything more as he rolls his eyes and rushes out of the library into the pouring rain.

Dan stands dumbfounded on the other side of the counter, his body shaking and his mind reeling. He had no idea what had really just happened but a part of him was feeling a bit freaked out by it.

Phil came back out from the back meeting room with a cup of coffee in his hand, sipping it gently and slowly. He looked innocent, almost of if he didn’t want Dan to know he’d seen most of what happened. But Dan knew Phil had seen it, it was impossible not.

It was honestly a good thing that no one ever comes into the library because as the tears came faster and harder down his cheeks, he sat down behind the counter and buried his head into his arms and let them all come out.

Phil volunteered to stay an hour past the time of his shift ending to take Dan back to his apartment. It made him feel like a burden. Phil should have been able to go home to his own apartment and not have to take Dan home because Dan didn’t have his car anymore.

Phil drops him off and Dan offers to give him money for gas but Phil waves it off and just tells Dan that it’s “anything a friend would do”. And although Dan hadn’t known Phil for more than a few days, he does feel like a friendship is forming with Phil and that makes him feel a bit better inside from the shit day he’d had. Phil gives him his cell phone number and tells him to text him if he needs a ride to work the next day since they work the same shift again and Dan just smiles and tells him he’ll let him know.

When Dan rounds the front of the apartment building, his eyes catch on a white key parked directly in front of the doorway. That’s Lucas’s car, a white Subaru Impreza. Dan feels stumped. Why was Lucas’s car at the apartment if it broke down earlier?

He walks around the sides of it, not noticing anything starkly different. He looks inside the drivers side and notices that it’s really really clean. Not that Lucas didn’t keep his car clean before but this looked…spotless. Dan was confused. Did the auto body shop clean his car for him?

He shakes his head and ignores all of the red flags popping up as he fishes out his apartment key and walks inside the building down the hall.

Dan opens the door to their apartment and steps inside, throwing his backpack down in the same place he always put his backpack. He walks into the kitchen and takes care of his lunch that he didn’t even eat and then he heads into the living room to relax.

He falls onto the couch and goes to put his feet up on the coffee table when he notices some more newspaper clippings on the pile from the day before. Dan sits up straighter and leans over, looking at the headlines.

They’re all about the killer again.

Dan feels his heart pick up speed and he picks up the paper. This clipping is about the DNA under the nail of the last victim. He sets it back down and picks up the next one, this one is the police sketch and Dan feels sick.

The sketch looks just like Lucas, down to the way his chin was shaped. Dan feels his breathing hyperventilate and he lets go of the clipping as he hugs his knees tighter to his chest and breathes heavily. He reaches for the remote and turns the TV on, hoping that anything would be on to ease his mind.

It’s the news again.

This time the headline is that another victim has been found, this one is a 25-year-old male and he was found thrown off from a hillside. It was different from the previous victims but the same thing has applied to this one to the other ones. The same markings, the same sexual assault. The same everything.

According to the police, they are saying the assault happened in a vehicle and the victim was thrown out of the car at a high speed. Dan feels bile rise further in his throat and he slams his thumb down on the power button as he rushes into the bathroom and vomits stomach acid into the toilet.

He spends the rest of the night sitting curled up in the living room, refusing to believe what his heart is telling him. There is no way. All of this has to be a coincidence but it can’t be, right?

Lucas doesn’t come home that night. Instead, he comes home really early the next morning and all Dan sees of him is his back as he rushes into the shower. His clothing is ripped and torn. While he’s showering and Dan can hear the water running, he opens the bathroom door a little bit and looks inside to see a heap of torn clothing sitting in dark-colored water in the sink.

And Dan feels sick all over again.

***

Phil picks up Dan for work the next day, mostly because Lucas didn’t give Dan his car keys back and Dan didn’t want to look for them. When he walked out that morning, his old car was sitting next to Lucas’s but he didn’t bother to look at it.

At the library, Dan packages up the next round of books and helps a young girl pick out a new fairy tale. It helps keeps his mind off from everything for a little bit, mostly because every time he does think about it, he feels like he’s going to be sick all over again.

Phil notices his change in demeanor when Dan refuses to eat anything during their lunch break. He sits in the office chair behind the counter and opts for chewing on the end of a pen instead, feeling the plastic give and scratch a bit under his teeth.

“How is everything?” Phil asks him between bites of warmed up soup.

“Not good,” Dan answers. “Lucas is…”

“I don’t think Lucas is who you think he is.”

Dan snaps his head up and feels his body tighten, his muscles straining. “You don’t know him.”

“Dan, you saw how he acted when he came in for your car,” Phil says. “That’s not a sign of a good guy.”

“He’s stressed.”

“Something is wrong with him.”

Dan breaks down and nods. “I know.” He cries. “I know something is wrong with him but I don’t know.”

Phil reaches across the table at Dan and sets his hand comfortingly on Dan’s arm. He rubs gently, moving his hand back and forth and Dan feels warmth under the touch. It does make him feel a bit better, like a parent comforting their child that their scraped knee is not as bad as they think it is.

Dan wipes his eyes with his sleeve and sniffles in. Phil pulls his hand away and pushes his lunch to the other side of the table as he lets out a soft sigh.

“I think Lucas is the Western Valley Serial Killer.”

When the words are out of his mouth, he knows that he can’t take them back. Phil’s eyes widen and his mouth falls open. “Are…are you being serious right now?”

Dan nods his head. “He fits the descriptions, he keeps coming home late. Last night, after you dropped me off, I noticed his car was sitting in the parking lot completely wiped clean. His clothing was torn when he got home last night and he was soaking them in the sink. He has bruises and scratches on his back.”

“Holy shit, Dan!” Phil exclaims. “This is serious. You need to contact the police.”

“And what do I tell them?” Dan asks. “I’m not even sure if…”

“Has he done anything else weird lately?” Phil asks.

Dan nods. “He’s been keeping these clippings of the serial killer from the newspaper on our coffee table. I moved them a bit a few days ago to make them more organized and he lost his shit on me. Told me not to ever touch them. Over a week ago, I turned on the TV to the news and he acted really strange when he saw what was being said.”

“You need to tell all of this to the police, Dan.”

“But what if it’s not? And what if this isn’t what I’m thinking it might be? What if it’s my mind playing tricks?”

Phil shook his head. “I don’t think it’s your mind playing tricks, Dan. You obviously know Lucas better than anyone.”

“I’m scared, Phil.”

It’s the first time Dan has said that. It’s the first time Dan has admitted that he’s genuinely scared of Lucas now. He’s scared of who he is and what he’s become. He’s not the same guy he fell in love with anymore.

“How long is Lucas gone today?” Phil asks.

“Until his seminar ends at quarter to four,” Dan says. “But he’ll come right home.”

“You mentioned seeing those clothes in the sink in your apartment right?” Phil asks and Dan nods. “Do you think Lucas would have done something with them?”

“What do you mean?”

“We should go to your apartment and find the clothes Lucas was soaking. They might be blood-stained.”

Dan feels his heart stutter. “You want to help me?”

“I think he’s really dangerous, Dan,” Phil says. He swallows and then opens his mouth to speak again. “I may not have known you for very long but I think Lucas has the ability to hurt you, even kill you. If you think this is who he is, you need to be safe.”

Dan nods and stands up, pushing his chair out behind him. “Let’s go.”

Phil stands up and they rush out, making a sign to hang on the door to the library saying the library would be back open in an hour. They get into Phil’s car and speed their way to Dan’s apartment.

Lucas isn’t there when Dan opens the door. He and Phil rush inside and Dan immediately runs to the bathroom to look in the sink…it’s sparkling clean. It’s never been this clean. Normally soap and toothpaste stains litter the white porcelain.

He pushes open the shower curtain and the shower is spotless too. Dan feels weird, like the fumes of the bleach are getting to his head as the longer he stands inside, the heavier and heavier they get.

Dan walks out of the bathroom and he sees Phil sitting on the couch, hunched over the pile of newspapers that Dan had told him about. “Did you find anything?”

Phil turns his head, his quiff falling down a bit in front of his glasses. He shakes his head. “No, nothing.”

“Me either. But he’s cleaned the bathroom, like spotless.”

“Are the clothes anywhere?”

“I didn’t see them in the bathroom.”

Dan walks back to the bedroom and begins to dig in their wardrobe, trying to find any sign of clothing that was once badly stained. He doesn’t see anything. He’s searching through the hamper of dirty clothes when he hears the front door open and his heart stops in his throat.

“What are you doing here?”

Fuck. That’s Lucas’s voice.

Dan straightens up quickly and rushes out of the bedroom to see Lucas standing at the door, his messenger bag on his shoulder and his hair neatly done.

“I―I.”

“Phil came back with me to pick up my lunch since I forgot it this morning.”

Lucas nods slowly and Dan knows in his heart that Lucas doesn’t believe him.

“Okay.” Lucas draws out. “Well, anyway, I’m just coming back for a minute to drop off something and then I have to head back out. Here are your car keys.”

Lucas hands Dan his key fob and he stuffs it into his pocket with a fake smile. Lucas leans forward and kisses Dan gently on the lips and Dan has to fight off the feeling of repulsion that sits on his tongue.

Lucas brushes past him and drops off a bag into their bedroom and then he walks back out and smiles at them both and walks out the door. Dan feels uneasy and he and Phil exchange glances as they both rush to the bedroom to see what was in the bag.

Dan opens it and inside is a perfectly washed black shirt, brown leather jacket, and blue jeans. It was the same clothes Dan had seen in the sink.

“These are it,” Dan says, his breath catching in his throat. “These are the clothes that were in the sink last night.”

“Are you sure?”

Dan nods, fighting off tears. “Phil, he cleaned everything. Oh my fucking God, they probably were covered in blood.”

“We need to call the police.”

Dan nods but then stops in his tracks. “We don’t have enough proof, Phil.”

Phil lets out a sigh. “Fuck, you’re probably right.”

Dan nods again and lets out a sigh. He exchanges another glance at Phil and then they both walk out of the bedroom and leave the apartment.

Dan remembers he still has his car keys in his pocket when he closes the door to the building. But he can’t be assed to take them back. He’s walking over to Phil’s car when he notices his own is sitting just a few cars down. He motions to it with Phil and Phil nods as they walk over and Dan unlocks the doors.

They open and the doors and fuck, his car is just as spotless as Lucas’s. What the fuck? He feels uneasy. His seats are steamed clean and his floor is spotless of any dirt. Even the outside is wiped and polished. 

“Something very wrong.”

Phil looks at him and Dan bites his lip.

It’s raining when their shift ends at the library. Phil drops Dan back off at his apartment and when Dan walks inside, Lucas is gone and so is all of the newspaper clippings that were once on the coffee table. His keys are also gone from the keyring by the door.

He walked into their bedroom and the clothing in the bag was gone too. Everything felt wrong, felt weird.

Dan felt uneasy.

He moved to the living room and sat down on the couch and turned on the TV, changing the channel before the news could even load.

He eventually falls asleep, the sleep deprivation of not getting the rest the last few nights finally catching up.

***

When Dan wakes up, it’s to a cold blade pressed against his neck. His eyes snap open and comes face to face with the same dark eyes he used to fall in love with.

The blade is pressed so close to his skin that Dan feels like just breathing will cause the blade to sink into his skin.

“When did you find out?” Lucas growls out.

His eyes are so dark, near black. His lip is curled into a smirk and his hair is tossed around, unkept. He has blood on his neck, splattered down his chest.

“Hhng.”

“Don’t play hard to get, Dan. I know you know about me.”

The blade is suddenly gone and Dan chokes out a sob. “Lucas, please!”

Lucas shook his head. “You were never supposed to find out about me.”

“Lucas…”

“You were never supposed to know who I was and what I’ve done.”

Suddenly hands are wrapped around his throat, the blade from the knife thrown off the side. Dan turns his head to the side just as Lucas begins to squeeze down and Dan’s hands come up to try and pry his hands from his throat.

“It’s a shame you found out,” Lucas says, pressing harder. “I didn’t expect you to know. I thought I would go down in history for being the only serial killer to get away from the police. In fact, that was my plan. After studying so many cases, I’ve realized that most killers fuck up and I was going to see how hard it really was.”

He presses down a bit firmer and Dan feels himself begin to gasp for air.

“The first girl was exhilarating. I wasn’t aware that anything could ever feel that good as being able to take what you from someone else. Seeing the life fade away from another person was addicting. I couldn’t stop.”

Dan fights back, trying to kick and buck his legs but Lucas’s weight is sat down on top of him, holding him down on the couch.

His vision is fading in and out and his head is struggling to hold up. His hand goes lax and he tries to fight but the can’t anymore. Lucas is too strong. Dan turns his head and looks down at the knife just laying there on the floor. If only he could reach it, this entire thing would be over in seconds. His arm flops down and just as his vision blacks out, the door bursts open.

He forces his eyes open and he sees a bloodied hand grabbing the knife and then a warm spray is covering his face and his body and the hands around his neck are gone. As he begins to suck in more air, his eyes open and he sees Lucas, sitting on the floor with a knife sticking out of the side of his neck.

Dan’s body feels like jello and he manages to scream out from his bruised throat just as another person is sitting beside him, rubbing their hand over the side of his face. He opens his eyes and looks to see who is there and its Phil. He’s bloodied, his stomach has a patch of blood in the front. His lip is split and his hair matted with blood.

“I was on my way to tell you that I found more information on Lucas when he attacked me right outside in my car. I passed out and when I woke up, he was already gone. I called the police and they’re here now, they’re coming up. It’s over, Dan.”

Just as Phil spoke up, the police barged in with EMT’s and Dan lost his fight with consciousness.

***

When Dan woke up again, he was in a hospital room, the sounds of the machine beeping next to him. He tried to turn his head towards the noise but his head couldn’t move and his throat was aching.

Next to him was a nurse, feeding the rest of whatever was in her syringe into his IV in his arm. “It’s okay darling, we’re just waking you up now. You’ll feel a bit cloudy but I’ll get you some water, okay?”

Dan opened and closed his eyes a few times as he fought to want to fall back into his sleep. When he opened them a bit more the second time, he saw a police officer sitting beside the bed in a chair and Phil sat in the one next to them. His arm was in a sling and his lip was stitched up but he looked a lot better than the last time Dan had seen him.

“When you’re fully awake, Dan,” The police officer says. “We will need a statement from you of all you can remember from the events of last night, okay?”

Dan doesn’t actually end up giving a statement to the police officer until later that day when the brace holding his neck was gone. He suffered heavy bruising on his throat from Lucas’s hands and they said it would be a while for him to be able to consume solid food. Right now they suggested just liquids.

Phil had gotten some stitches but he was a lot better than Dan had thought he was going to be. He had apparently been released from the hospital the night before but due to the heavy bruising on Dan’s throat, they kept him overnight for observation. But Phil hadn’t left. He had waited for Dan to wake up.

Lucas had miraculously survived despite the fact that Phil had put a knife in his throat. He was being held in the hospital under heavy police observation and then he was being transported to police custody to wait for his charges.

The DNA had come back that Lucas had been the DNA on the victims nails that they had found and when Dan found out that information, he cried until his tears dried out.

Dan never went back to the apartment he shared with Lucas, not even after they had cleaned everything out of it and the police had searched it and found mounds of evidence, all that Dan was scared of being evidence.

Afraid to live alone, Dan moved in with Phil until he got back on his feet but what started as just a couple month ordeal ended up being permanent when Dan realized that Phil was who he felt safe with and took comfort in after the traumatic situation they had both been through.

It took a long time for Dan to ever feel like he could trust another person, even Phil. The toll that Lucas had put on him left Dan feeling vulnerable and unsure of who to take comfort in. But Phil always stuck by his side, and Phil will always stick by his side.

The day Lucas went in front of the jury, Dan was called to testify and he did. And with the help of his testimony, Lucas was charged on 4 counts of first degree murder and 2 counts of attempted murder and was given 6 life sentences. He’ll never see the daylight again.

Lucas sent Dan a letter from prison nearly ten years later but Dan never looked at it. He had Phil rip it up and throw it away. He wanted to live his life free of Lucas now, and the memory of who he was and what he had done. And when Dan wrote and published a book on his experiences, he donated all of his royalties to the families of the victims of Lucas.

Life didn’t get any easier but with time, Dan knows it can.

**Author's Note:**

> if you liked this fic, leave a comment and some kudos and send me a message on my tumblr @yiffanduiff!


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